I just realized recently that I can no longer silently judge people who say "so-and-so is such a trouper" (meaning, an uncomplaining person) (because, you know, it's obviously "trooper").

Now I shall silently judge the people who write "trooper."

This is an interesting question because it can go either way. A 'trooper' can mean a good, loyal soldier who will do whatever is required for the cause. A 'trouper' can refer to an actor who puts up with terrible audiences or personal sorrows and is dedicated to the maxim that 'the show must go on'.

I was in grad school before I realized that the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow were really the people from Kansas. I watched that movie a million times and never made the connection.

I also POD the comment upthread about education not giving me facts. My roomie and I had this convo just the other day about General Custer.

You don't want to know how long it finally took to dawn on me that our own Ehellion, Moray, has a picture of a Moray Eel as her avatar.

*sings* When you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee, that's....a moray!

And ... you beat me to it.

or hubby's version

*sings* when the eel that you feel, doesn't feel like an eel, that's a moray

When you're stung by an eel and a shock's what you feel, that's a moray.

(I have no idea if morays are electric eels, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. )

I've always seen the "trouper" spelling to refer to a good sport, someone who keeps on going in the face of adversity. From "troupe" as in performing troupe and "the show must go on" and all that. But we call that behavior "soldiering on," and soldiers are "troopers," so yeah, I may need to rethink that. Hmmm....

The one I learned previously on eHell that still amazes me I missed all my life is that there is an arrow near the gas gauge in cars indicating which side the gas tank is on. When I read it I immediately went and checked both our cars. At least 70% of the people I have shared that knowledge with never knew it either.

I will be checking that out in about 10 minutes when I get in my car!

An arrow? I'm going to have to check. I've noticed that the fuel indicator light is usually on the same side.

DH and I had never used one before, we've had our current home for more than a year...we just wanted to know if the dish washer worked...

The guy who came up with Scientology is named L. Ron Hubbard. Not Elrond Hubbard. For the longest time people would talk about him being an odd man and I thought "Well his parents named him Elrond, what do you expect?"

You can use about a teaspoon of dish soap if you're desperate. Add some oxyclean and vinegar. Your dishes will probably be streaky if you have hard water. The vinegar is supposed to help with that.

The one I learned previously on eHell that still amazes me I missed all my life is that there is an arrow near the gas gauge in cars indicating which side the gas tank is on. When I read it I immediately went and checked both our cars. At least 70% of the people I have shared that knowledge with never knew it either.

No! Really? Every time I go to the US I rent a car and have done loop-de-loops around the gas pumps when I mistake which side the tank is on. I never noticed! My last trip I was all over the place and rented 3 cars in total and I was confused How simple, thank you!

I hit some other button, and I got some spiel about my IP address, I hope I didn't do anything stupid, like hit 'report'...I loved this post! If you hit 'report' by mistake, are there following steps or does it automatically 'report'?

Mods, I didn't mean it!

Edit- It looks like I clicked on the 'Logged' thing next to 'Report'. Phew. I guess.

I hit some other button, and I got some spiel about my IP address, I hope I didn't do anything stupid, like hit 'report'...I loved this post! If you hit 'report' by mistake, are there following steps or does it automatically 'report'?

Mods, I didn't mean it!

Edit- It looks like I clicked on the 'Logged' thing next to 'Report'. Phew. I guess.

The "Report" button takes us to a screen to say why the post is being reported and then we must hit "Send" or something like that. Anyway, not all reports are acted on. If the mod doesn't agree with the report, it will be ignored.

In house hunting I was surprised to find out that not all homes have breaker boxes and that some of the older ones had fuseboxes. (one had a fusebox on the outside of the house. I'm sorry, all I could think was "That's a horror movie waiting to happen" because I could just imagine someone coming up and pulling fuses to make lights go out and freak out the inhabitants of the house before pulling them all out, going in and killing someone.

No I don't watch too many horror movies, I've seen just enough, thank you.

I was also surprised when my friend told me that Iowa had vineyards. I blame it on the fact that I'd just never heard about it till then and never seen any bottles marked as being from an Iowa vineyard, they were mostly foreign, Californian, or Maryland vineyards. We visited one of those vineyards while I visited my friend, one called Fireside Winery and the wine was VERY good! I tried to find it when I got back home but no one had it.

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata